Polystyrene (Styrofoam) Recycling Program To Start In 2011

Residents Asked to Keep Holiday Polystyrene For 2011 Collection

The City of Madison will begin a new program to recycle polystyrene in early 2011. The drop off program will accept block polystyrene (Styrofoam) packing materials most often used to protect electronics and appliances. "Because all of the details will not be finalized until early next year we cannot begin taking the material just yet," Madison recycling coordinator George Dreckmann said. "However, because so much polystyrene packing material enters the waste stream at Christmas we wanted to alert our customers to this new program and ask them to hold on to the material because we will be able to recycle it in just a few weeks." The City of Madison will be partnering with a local manufacturer to recycle the polystyrene blocks. The program will accept block packing material, and other clean polystyrene. The program will not accept insulation, food packaging, cups or take out boxes. "Our new program will also not accept packing peanuts," Dreckmann said. "People can already recycling packing peanuts at the many mailing services in town. Because many packing peanuts are no longer made of polystyrene so we cannot use them in this new program." The City of Madison plans to hold a one day polystyrene collection program on a Saturday in late January or early February. The exact date will be announced shortly after the New Year. "We hope that folks can hang on to the Styrofoam packaging material they get over the holidays until we hold our drop off collection," Dreckmann said. "We plan to collect this material year round at our drop off sites after they open for extended hours in April."

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